NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A Louisiana grand jury will investigate several controversies involving police in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, including the theft of cars from a Cadillac dealership and the shooting deaths of two men suspected of firing on contractors. The grand jury will be the first impaneled here since Hurricane Katrina hit on Aug. 29. District Attorney Eddie Jordan, whose offices were flooded in the storm, announced the investigations Wednesday from his temporary headquarters in a former nightclub.
More than 200 vehicles—including 88 new Cadillacs and Chevrolets—were taken from a dealership amid the chaos after the hurricane hit. New Orleans police have acknowledged that some of the cars were taken by officers to replace flooded police cars.
In October, two civilians were arrested in the case and on Friday a federal grand jury indicted a former officer on charges of stealing a pickup truck from the dealership.
The police shooting case has been surrounded by confusion. On Sept. 4, police said five people were shot to death by officers after opening fire on a group of contractors on a bridge in New Orleans. But the number was later revised down to two, and questions have been raised about whether those killed were involved in any wrongdoing.
The grand jury also will look at evidence in a case involving a police chief and police officer from the small town of Mermentau who were accused of looting after Katrina. And it will examine allegations of possible malfeasance involving a Port of New Orleans official who dismissed about 60 port security officers who could have helped protect a mall and taken part in rescue efforts.
Jordan said the grand jury will probably also look into the deaths of patients at hospitals during Katrina and investigate whether the levees and floodwalls that broke were improperly built.
